Bangladesh for the fifth consecutive time has been billed as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2005.

This time Bangladesh and Chad have been jointly put on top of the list — both having 1.7 points — out some 159 countries of the world.

Bangladesh was put at 158th position while Chad in 159th position with the same points.

Last year, Bangladesh and Nigeria jointly topped the list of corrupt nations.

In 2001, Bangladesh was first placed at the top slot among the most corrupt countries by Transparency International, raising widespread controversy and condemnation.

Trustee board member of the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) Prof Mozaffar Ahmed revealed the report at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club this morning. The report was simultaneously released allover the world.

This time TI got information from seven sectors of the country against three sectors last year. “Information will be collected from other sectors too next time,” Prof Mozaffar Ahmed told reporters.

About Bangladesh’s worst performance on TI’s corruption index, Ahmed said Bangladesh emerged top among 146 countries last year and this time the number of countries is 159.

Describing the coordination process of the methodology of this report, he said many people questioned how various kinds of information could have been properly shuffled at the end of the research. “We can say all the questionnaires of the research are interrelated and this relation is implied where good governance is related to corruption,” he said.

The sources of the CPI this year were The Center for International Earth Science Information Network of Columbia University, Economist Intelligence nit, Freedom House, Information international, International Institute for Management Development at Laussane in Switzerland, Merchant International Group, Political and Economical Risk Consultancy, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, World Economic Forum and World Markets Research Center.

In South Asia, Sri Lanka has emerged as the least corrupt country, while the rankings of other countries in this region are India 992 2nd, Nepal 123rd and Pakistan 146th.

But Mozaffar Ahmed denied describing Bangladesh as the most corrupt country. “The index was made for 159 countries from where information could be collected, but there are 201 countries under the United Nations. No one can say, for sure, those countries will not emerge as more corrupts than Bangladesh,” he said.

Dr Mozaffar said in this index it was mentioned that corruption in Bangladesh is widespread for which Bangladesh will face difficulties to achieve the MDGs in due time.

Prof Ahmed denied any involvement of TIB in providing information to TI and said TIB is a registered independent organisation. “We must make it clear that we never supply any information to TI,” he added.

According to the TI index, the most corrupt countries this time are Chad, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Angola and Uzbekistan, while the least corrupt ones are Iceland, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Australia and Austria.

Prof Mozaffar said Bangladesh would be able to achieve prosperity without the help of donors if it could stem the widespread corruption. “They (donor countries and agencies) only gave three per cent of our GDP, while corruption eats up more than that,” he pointed out.

He said that the worst victims of this unbridled corruption are the country’s poor people and this malady is contributing in widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

Prof Ahmed blamed the country’s businessman, politicians and bureaucrats for the worst performance by Bangladesh in the TI Corruption Perception Index 2005. “This result may cast a negative impact on the country’s economy and foreign investment,” he feared.

According to the TI report, progress has been made against corruption in Costa Rica, Gabon, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay

Bloomberg reports:
Chad and Bangladesh topped the list of the world's most corrupt nations among a slew of military dictatorships and West African oil exporters, an annual survey by Transparency International showed.

More than two-thirds of the 159 nations surveyed scored less than 5 out of 10, when ranked by business people, experts and analysts on their perceptions of bribery and misuse of public office. The two worst both scored 1.7, while the least corrupt, Iceland, scored 9.7. Africa's biggest oil exporter, Nigeria, ranked joint third worst, one notch better than last year.

``Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it,'' Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of Berlin- based Transparency International said in a statement. ``The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery.''

Globally, some $1 trillion is paid in bribes each year, according to the World Bank Institute. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who helped found Transparency International before he gained office, is leading efforts to end graft in his country by regularly publishing details of oil-export revenues and amounts distributed to Nigeria provinces. Without such measures, it's easy to use state-run companies such as Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and Angola's Sonangol SA as cash cows for government officials, experts said.

``Obasanjo has indicated he isn't afraid to deal with corruption at the highest levels,'' said Rolake Akinola, a West Africa analyst at London's Control Risks Group, which assesses business risk. ``The dismissal of the Education Minister, Housing Minister and Inspector General of Police shows a determination to try to purge the government of corruption.''

After Chad and Bangladesh, the three next worst nations are Haiti, Myanmar and Turkmenistan, which each scored 1.8 on the index. Haiti had the lowest ranking in the index last year, when it ranked equal with Bangladesh.

Nigeria was joined by fellow West African commodity exporters Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea in this year's equal third-worst place with 1.9. Angola followed with a score of 2.

At the other end of the scale, five of the world's 10 least corrupt nations were Scandinavian. Finland and New Zealand ranked equal second-best after Iceland. Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland were next best, all scoring more than 9 out of 10.

Transparency International draws on up to 16 sources, including the World Bank and World Economic Forum, to come up with its composite annual Corruption Perceptions Index, and needs at least three sources for a country to be included. The 2005 index includes 13 more countries than last year's.

Other efforts to disclose contract payments in oil and mining businesses include the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which some 20 countries, mostly African, have joined in the past three years. Those backing the effort, including UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, say it's a step toward eliminating the corruption and waste that have long dogged the continent.

Mauritania adopted the initiative last month, Mohamed Aly Ould Sidi Mohamed told reporters on Sept. 26, after becoming the country's new energy minister following a coup d'etat in August.

In Africa alone, some $148 billion is lost to corruption every year, Transparency International says. That's about half the continent's external debt, estimated by the International Monetary Fund at $284 billion.

Major energy companies such as BP Plc are afraid of losing business to less scrupulous competitors or finding their concessions reassigned to rivals if they offend governments by disclosing too much detail about contracts, according to Bede Nwete, a legal expert at the University of Dundee's Centre for Energy Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy.

``For instance, BP's initial attempt to comply with the principals met a stone wall in Angola,'' Nwete said in a paper presented at a conference in Johannesburg last month.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said in an annual social responsibility report on May 27 that Shell staff or intermediaries paid or accepted 16 bribes last year, contravening company policy, double the number it reported for 2003. Most companies don't try to report bribes at all.

Shell is cooperating with a US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into alleged bribes paid by those constructing the multibillion dollar Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas plant, of which Shell owns a part. The investigation is centered on TSKJ, a group including Halliburton Co., which built the plant.

Nigeria was for many years the continent's most corrupt nation under the late dictator General Sani Abacha, who ruled between 1993 and 1998. Other West African countries have been slow to follow Obasanjo's lead in trying to end corruption, as have some Nigerian politicians, according to Michael Levitsky, a senior economist at the World Bank.

``There is a slight concern about what happens after Obasanjo leaves office in 2007 and when the campaigning starts for the 2007 elections,'' said Control Risks' Akinola. ``His drive against corruption also faces considerable opposition in the legislature. The national assembly is one of the main opponents of Obasanjo's anti-graft policies.''

Abacha and his heirs are accused of embezzling as much as $4 billion, most of it stashed in foreign bank accounts. Switzerland plans to return $290 million in funds placed in the country by Abacha, and pay a second installment of $170 million to Nigeria when the funds become available, the Swiss Justice Ministry said Sept. 9

Originally posted by akabir77
Well USa should be in the top as their one company steal millioins of dollars when bd people all togher can't do that..

So i say this index is baseless....

Edited on, October 18, 2005, 8:10 PM GMT, by akabir77.

Well in U.S. the corruption is at corportate level - which is by far the most damaging but for bangladesh corruption is even within extended families....
this is not to say that it doesn't exist in top places

So in U.S. certain corruption at top
in Bangladesh Corruption EVERYWHERE.... see the differnce..

the scale is in comparison.. just like gravity. It's not an absolute number.

According to media of Bangladesh reported it champion. But according to BBC we are runners up. Chad is champion. So I could cnclude it is the media of Bangladesh who making us champion. By the way I do not give a damn about this report. This is not a research at all but perception. So USA (remember Haliburton), is well below while poor country like Chad and Bangladesh is at top. yes I agree there is massive corruption but where there is not.
the BBC reporthttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4351076.stm

Ok, I just saw the box. and there Bangladesh name is below chad and above Turkmenistan. Any way I do not give a damn about those ranking. If people think something is not corrupt does not mean that is not corrupt. One classic example may be army. All over the world this institution is deemed as the most honest institute. But it is well known fact lots of money change hand during various deal. A few come to light like Bofors or MIG 29.

AND, as usual, the position-opposition started the game which they like very much.... The Blame Game.

dailystar reports:

BNP, AL trade blames over TI graft tag

The ruling BNP and main opposition Awami League blamed each other for the country's becoming "the champion" in corruption for the fifth consecutive year.
Reacting to the Berlin based Transparency International (TI)'s corruption perception index (CPI) released yesterday, Information Minister M Shamsul Islam told The Daily Star that the country became champion in corruption for the first time during the rule of Awami League.

"We do not consider the report reliable, because it was prepared on the basis of some newspaper reports exemplifying yellow journalism," Communications Minister Nazmul Huda told the BBC.

The TI report is part of a plot to term the country "non-functional", he added.

"The country became champion in corruption because of massive nepotism, politicisation, partisanship and other corruptions by the four-party alliance government," said Awami League Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed, who is also a former minister.

All should come up and become united to oust the present government to save the country from ruination, he said.

The ruling party has already made the country champion in corruption for four times and it should now make a commitment that it would not make the country champion in corruption in the next year, said Obaidul Kader, a former minsiter and present presidium member of the AL.

Gono Forum President and convenor of Jatiya Oikya Mancha Dr Kamal Hossain also blamed the four-party alliance government for becoming champion in corruption for four times.

"General people are not corrupt, rather a section of people belonging to the ruling party are mainly involved in massive corruption," he said. He demanded a national government in order to come out of this corrupt cycle.

President of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury said the massive corruption of this government is reflected in the TI report that tarnished the country's image with the world.

To come out of this shameful position, a national government comprising honest, brilliant and patriotic forces should be formed, he said.

Well in U.S. the corruption is at corportate level - which is by far the most damaging but for bangladesh corruption is even within extended families....
this is not to say that it doesn't exist in top places

So in U.S. certain corruption at top
in Bangladesh Corruption EVERYWHERE.... see the differnce..

the scale is in comparison.. just like gravity. It's not an absolute number.

Agree with you but i think they didn't select the absolute number so that they can pick on poor country...

For example if a rickshaw pooler gets robbed does any one bothers? no one cause the amount will be very less but what if a rich man like salman F rahman gets robbed? So it me the guys who robbed is bigger robber cause they had to plan it, fight the darawn and then get the safe and then open it and then still have hide from the police where as the rickshaw puller robber probably walking infront of the police.. what i am trying to say in stead of look how many people r corrupt they should look for whats' the amount they r stilling.. and i am sure if they do that some rich country will be in top but i don't think the group has the courage to do so...And that's why i don't give a dmm about this (don't care whether AL in power or BNP)